Florence in one day

PRIVATE GUIDED TOUR TO THE MAIN MONUMENTS OF FLORENCE

If you’re fortunate enough to visit Florence, but unfortunate enough to have only a single day to experience what the city has to offer, you need to ensure that you have a carefully planned itinerary. So allow us to be your guide for the day and take you on a tour of the sights and sounds of Florence. We can’t promise that you'll see all the monuments in a day, but hopefully by the end of the tour you’ll feel like you’ve seen the best of the city. Your only problem will be deciding when to come back and see more!

The center of Florence is pretty compact, so the best way to see it without missing anything is on foot. We start our visit with the Galleria dell'Accademia to see Michelangelo’s David and the Prisoners, his huge unfinished masterpieces.

Our walk will continue with the Duomo Complex (Duomo, Baptistery and the Bell Tower) completely coated in multicolored marble slabs. We will focus on the cathedral's most important architectural features, especially the magnificent Dome, which has come to represent the city of Florence itself. Made out of bricks, the Dome was built by the celebrated Renaissance engineer and architect Filippo Brunelleschi.

The guided tour then continues with the Baptistery, one of the city's most ancient religious buildings; the beauty of its doors moved Michelangelo to call them the "Gates of Paradise"! Ghiberti, the goldsmith who created the doors, spent much of his life casting them in gilt-bronze.

We will then reach the main square, Piazza della Signoria, where you will find a unique outdoor sculpture gallery, including Neptune’s Fountain, a 19th-century replica of Michelangelo's David, and the impressive Perseus by Benvenuto Cellini. The Palazzo Vecchio (the Old Palace) was built in 1299 and it still used today for its original purpose as a government building. Throughout the centuries, Cosimo de' Medici, the first Grand Duke of Florence, turned it into his own family's private residence.

Next door to the Palazzo is the Uffizi Gallery, with its unrivalled collection of Renaissance art. If you’re an art lover, you don’t want to miss the Uffizi whose highlights can be seen in a short 1,30 hour visit. Our visit will concentrate on the most important masters of the Renaissance, the artistic period that has is cradle in Florence: Giotto, considered to be the painter who paved the way for the Renaissance; Filippo Lippi, the friar-turned-painter who was much admired by Cosimo the Elder; Botticelli, whose harmony and symbolism can be appreciated in his two most famous paintings, the Birth of Venus and  the Spring. Your guide will also show you masterpieces by Leonardo da Vinci; the marvellous Tondo Doni the only surviving painted panel by Michelangelo; some of the most famous works by Raphael and by the Venetian painter Titian. The aim of our Uffizi guided tour is to observe selected works in depth, using the Gallery as a visual guide to the evolution of Florentine art.

Alongside the Uffizi is the River Arno, with its many bridges visible from the large windows of the gallery. You will enjoy a breathtaking view of Ponte Vecchio, the famed bridge housing a multitude of goldsmiths and jewellery shops, with its medieval workshops overhanging the bridge. This is the only bridge on the Arno that wasn’t destroyed in World War II.

EXTENDED TOUR (5-HOUR OPTION)

If you are still eager to continue the discovery of Florence, we can visit Santa Croce, the largest Franciscan church in the world and the burial place of the greatest Italian minds such as Michelangelo and Galileo Galilei. Our tour will focus on the highligts of the church, including the world-famous 14th century frescoes by Giotto and the ancient wood Crucifixion painted by Cimabue that was damaged during the 1966 flood.

After that you may want to finish your day by taking a relaxing stroll in the nearby shopping area.